OCOMA & TAN ARE IDeA 1 CHAMPS; TAN and GONZALEZ ARE BEST SPEAKERS

December 18, 2017

By:

Mikko Vitug

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Julia Ocoma (12-Gonzalez) & Matti Tan (11-Realino) were victorious in the Interscholastic Debaters Association's First Invitational (IDeA 1) of the 2017-2018 season, emerging as champions of the competition held from December 2-3, 2017 in La Salle Greenhills. In the 60-team tournament, Ocoma & Tan of ASHS B unanimously won the Grand Final on the motion, "THS aggressive shaming as a method of calling out privilege" at closing government. Tan was also named best speaker of the final on a unanimous decision while Hans Gonzalez was named the tournament's overall best speaker. Vitug and Mercado tied for fourth best speaker while Tan & Ocoma were also awarded the tournament's overall fourth and ninth best speaker, respectively.

Among the teams reaching the Grand Final were Pep Danguilan (12-Walpole) & Dominic Pamatmat (12-Miki) of ASHS C, CJ Carlos (11-Wright) & Matthew Varona (11-Hurtado) of ASHS E, and a team from Xavier School. Danguilan and Carlos both tied with Julia Ocoma for ninth best speaker of the tournament. In addition, Hans Gonzalez (12-Miki) & Mikko Vitug (12-Pro) of ASHS A and Matthew Mercado (11-Bellarmine) and Carlo Pastor (11-Torres) of ASHS D reached the semifinal stage of the competition. This championship marks the first IDeA 1 victory in 12 years for the Ateneo Debaters and the 7th straight high school championship of the year. The Ateneo debaters extend their gratitude to Ms. Amyrrha Estolloso, moderator of the ASHS debate organization, as well as to the ASHS administrators for supporting the team in its various endeavors. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!